Fort Worth teens appear on Netflix’s ‘Cheer,’ address abuse charges against Jerry Harris
A Fort Worth family appears in the second season of the Netflix docuseries “Cheer” to address sexual assault allegations against season one star Jeremiah “Jerry” Harris, who faces criminal charges and a Fort Worth-based lawsuit.
In September 2020, a lawsuit filed in a Tarrant County court detailed allegations against Harris by a Fort Worth family. According to the suit, Harris asked twin boys to send him sexually explicitly photos and tried to coerce one of them into oral sex at a Fort Worth cheerleading competition in February 2019. The suit says Harris “engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, exploitation, manipulation, intimidation, and sexual abuse” of the boys.
Harris also faces federal charges related to child pornography and sexual abuse, to which he is pleading not guilty.
In episode 5 of the second season, titled “Jerry,” the Fort Worth boys and their mother — identified only by their first names — speak out about the allegations.
Interview on ‘Cheer’
In 2018, Harris was already a star within the cheerleading community. He met then-13-year-old Fort Worth boys Charlie and Sam, who are not identified by name in the lawsuit, and befriended them at a national competition and began “grooming” them, the lawsuit says. One of the boys, identified as Charlie in “Cheer” episode 5, describes in the episode how Harris, who was 19 at the time, messaged him in 2018 on Instagram and asked him how old he was. When Charlie replied that he was 13, Harris asked him for “butt pics,” Charlie said.
“I was willing to do that and was kind of blindsided by his notoriety at that time,” Charlie says in the episode.
According to the lawsuit, Harris started to ask Charlie for sexual photos and have explicit conversations with him. Harris would make Charlie feel badly about himself if he did not reciprocate Harris’ flirting or reply to him, Charlie said in the episode.
In February 2019, the boys attended a cheer competition at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Harris, then 21, told Charlie to follow him to a secluded bathroom and pleaded and demanded that Charlie perform oral sex on him, the suit says. Charlie talks about the alleged assault in the Netflix series, saying that Harris cornered him in a bathroom stall and “basically was just like begging me, just continually pleading with me to have sex with him.”
Charlie continued to say no, and was in the bathroom for so long, he got texts from his teammates and brother asking where he was, and he ran out of the bathroom and rejoined his teammates, the lawsuit says.
At other cheerleading competitions, Harris would grope one of the boys and suggest secluded spots for them to meet up, the suit says. Sam, Charlie’s brother, says in the Netflix episode that Harris started messaging him inappropriately as well. Sam says in the show he felt isolated, sad and angry about the harassment but was afraid to tell anyone about what was going on.
In May 2019, Harris texted one of the boys during a cheerleading competition in Florida, according to the lawsuit. “Hey btw I found a place for us to do stuff it’s actually pretty good,” the text, a screenshot of which is attached in the lawsuit, said.
The Netflix series’ first season aired in 2020, and Harris, who was one of the main cheerleaders featured in the documentary series, swiftly became a celebrity for his optimistic and outgoing attitude. The show won multiple Emmys. Harris himself interviewed stars on the red carpet for the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” and on a Dallas stage alongside Oprah Winfrey. According to the lawsuit, he used his stardom against the boys. He would tell them he would appear in their social media posts in exchange for nude photos, the suit says.
In a USA Today investigation into the allegations against Harris, the boys described the anxiety and shame they felt.
“It was just eating me alive,” one of the boys, identified as Charlie by USA Today, said. “It was just making me so gross and uncomfortable. Every time I saw his name or something like that, I was just cringing about it.”
When the boys were 14, their mother found out about the messages from Harris and that there were other minors he had allegedly sexually harassed, the lawsuit says. The Fort Worth mom speaks out in the Netflix show as well and said she saw one of the boys’ text messages with Harris in the spring of 2020. She said the message said, “I’m sorry for what I’ve done in the past, I don’t think it’s a good idea that we be friends on Snapchat anymore.” When she looked at videos Harris sent the boys, she saw a video that appeared to be Harris masturbating.
The mother reported Harris to the US All Star Federation, Varsity Spirit LCC and Cheer Athletics Inc. in February 2020, but Harris continued to have a “green light” to serve as a coach and mentor to children, the lawsuit says. The mother made a report with the Fort Worth Police Department on July 10 and reported the allegations against Harris to the FBI.
Abusive climate in cheerleading
The lawsuit names Cheer Athletics, Varsity Spirit LLC and the United States All Star Federation as defendants and claims the organizations failed to protect the boys from a “systemically exploitative environment that has been bubbling within the All-Star Cheer community for years.” Harris worked as a coach and mentor for the organizations, which the suit claims concealed Harris’ predatory nature and endangered minors at cheerleading events.
Varsity Spirit LLC and cheer’s governing body, the United States All Star Federation, sponsored the event where Harris is accused of sexually assaulting the Fort Worth boy inside a public bathroom. In a petition filed in December 2020, Cheer Athletics and its co-owner, Angela Rogers, denied responsibility for Harris’ alleged actions. The group is not responsible for “acts of third persons or entities,” the motion said.
Investigations, such as USA Today’s series published in 2021, shine a spotlight on what advocates say is a pervasive, abusive climate within cheerleading that sweeps allegations under the rug. USA Today said reporters uncovered failures within the U.S. All Star Federation to investigate sexual misconduct claims and hold perpetrators accountable.
In episode 5 of “Cheer,” reporters, advocates and others address this climate of abuse and what needs to change within the cheer community.
“I want to be the start of change in cheer,” Charlie says in the episode.
“Do you have any regrets?” the interviewer asks the boys.
They both say no.
Harris was arrested in September 2020 and faces a number of accusations and charges. He was indicted on child sex charges — including production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, and enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. Federal prosecutors said Harris “exploited and violated” at least 10 boys in a court filing in September 2020. In his interview with authorities on Sept. 14, 2020, Harris reportedly admitted he had oral and anal sex with a 15-year-old at a 2019 cheer event, according to a pretrial motion filed in the Northern District of Illinois.
The suit against Harris is ongoing. The last court motion in the case was filed in November, when both parties’ attorneys agreed to a confidentiality agreement and sweeping protective order to seal sensitive court records.
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 2:28 PM.
